During Merriment, A Movement Rises

SOUND CHECK - MUSIC NEWS AND VIEWS

February 28, 2002|By ROGER CATLIN; Courant Rock Critic

LOS ANGELES — Grammy week here means more musicians per square mile than usual. And even before the high security awards program began Wednesday, there were a number of events to capitalize on the throng of performers.

What was different this year is that not all of the musicians were seen as part of the happy family usually projected by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

The newly formed Recording Artists' Coalition, formed to represent artists in a number of business issues, has been active in California in support of a state law that would include recording artists in a measure putting a seven- year lid on personal-service contracts. (Please see related story, Page 40.)

Its chief spokesman to date has been Don Henley, who greeted the audience at one of four sold-out concerts benefiting the new organization.

``Your presence here means a good deal to us,'' he told the crowd at the Great Western Forum. Audience members came out Tuesday to hear the Eagles, Billy Joel, Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty and Sheryl Crow.

Speeches were generally kept to a minimum, but Henley did tell the audience a bit about the new organization, which would serve ``not just the artists you see performing on stage tonight'' but all struggling artists who sign contracts without knowing what they're getting into.

People are signing contracts that they don't understand that affect the rest of their lives, he said. ``You've done that, right?'' he asked the audience. ``Some of you are married, right?''

With his one attempt at humor over, he moved on to introduce the first act, his former backup singer Sheryl Crow.

Crow kicked off her short performance and set the scene by saying, ``This is L.A.'' as part of her hit ``All I Want To Do.'' She introduced a pair of new songs from her forthcoming album and had Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks add harmonies on one, as she does on the record. Maines then had to leave because she had her own gig to attend, headlining a country-flavored set at the Universal Amphitheatre with Trisha Yearwood, Emmylou Harris and Dwight Yoakam.

The other coalition concerts Tuesday featured No Doubt with the Offspring, Weezer and others at the Long Beach Arena, and Beck, Eddie Vedder and Mike Ness of Social Distortion playing acoustically at the Wiltern Theater.

Together, the concerts were to raise about $2 million toward establishing the organization, which sees as its rival the more traditional Recording Artists Association of America.

There have been scattered artist uprisings against label business practices in the past, but none has been so coordinated. More than 150 artists are listed in support of the coalition, Henley said backstage at a pre-show press conference at the Forum. ``Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora signed up last night.''

``We don't expect everyone to join in,'' Henley said. ``Some people are afraid of record companies.''

But the joiners haven't been hard to find, he said.

``I think you'll be hard-pressed to find an artist who hasn't had any problem with their record companies.''

Despite coalition members' stand against the biggest labels, there was never any thought of boycotting the Grammys and its events. ``None of us ever considered that,'' Henley said. In fact, Recording Academy President and CEO Michael Greene testified on behalf of a coalition issue in Washington and agreed to have the benefit concerts in L.A. during Grammy week.

And Henley took part in many of the Grammy-sanctioned events, including the MusicCares Man of the Year dinner Monday, raising more than $2 million for the organization, which provides assistance for musicians in need. In the event feting Billy Joel, Henley joined a number of other artists at the dinner singing the Piano Man's work.

Henley did ``She's Got a Way''; Stevie Wonder did ``Just the Way You Are''; Bon Jovi and Sambora did ``Say Goodbye to Hollywood''; and Garth Brooks rocked out to ``Goodnight Saigon.''

Joel tried to be modest about the recognition in a press conference before the event. ``I know when I went to the Soviet Union, I ended the Cold War,'' he joked. ``But that was a long time ago. So maybe it's retroactive.''

Other than that, he said, ``I'm looking forward to seeing these great people do my stuff.''

The next night, the Man of the Year was part of the big Recording Artists Coalition concert with the Eagles.

Joel didn't see a contradiction in playing up both the official and unofficial Grammy week events.

``In my view, this is not anti-record company,'' he said in an interview of his involvement with the coalition.

``This is more about musician empowerment than trying to reduce the power of record companies, which are already being cut into by computer technology anyway.''

But as for a specific issue brought up by the coalition, Joel said, ``I have a problem with musicians' having to live up to contracts with managers that last more than seven years or production companies that last more than seven years.''